Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See this image

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio Hardcover – September, 1991

by
Tom Lewis (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Tom Lewis Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Tom Lewis (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 24 customer reviews
See all 3 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
$14.15 $3.56
Paperback
"Please retry"
—
$23.24 $1.34
Audio, Cassette
"Please retry"
—
— —
--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Ace the ACT.
Wiley Architecture, Construction, & Design Sale
Save up to 40% on select architecture, construction, and design guides during August. Learn more.
click to open popover

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
    4.6 out of 5 stars 52
    DVD
    $12.63 Prime
  2. The Rise of Radio, from Marconi through the Golden Age
    Alfred Balk
    4.7 out of 5 stars 7
    Paperback
    $39.95 Prime
  3. Hello, Everybody!: The Dawn of American Radio
    Anthony Rudel
    4.3 out of 5 stars 30
    Hardcover
  4. The General: David Sarnoff and the Rise of the Communications Industry
    Kenneth Bilby
    5.0 out of 5 stars 2
    Hardcover
  5. Raised on Radio
    Gerald Nachman
    3.9 out of 5 stars 29
    Hardcover
  6. Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899-1922 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)
    Susan J. Douglas
    4.8 out of 5 stars 4
    Paperback
    $30.07 Prime
Next

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
The latest book club pick from Oprah
"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead is a magnificent novel chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. See more

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 421 pages
  • Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (September 1991)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060182156
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060182151
  • Product Dimensions: 1.7 x 6.5 x 9.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #807,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe story of broadcast radio from RCAs point of view
By Paul Eckler on March 12, 2008
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
"Empire of The Air: The Men Who Made Radio," by Tom Lewis, HarperCollins, New York, 1991. This 421 page paperback is the book that accompanied the 1990s PBS series, a three-hour presentation of the story of radio. It emphasized the role of three individuals: Lee DeForest, Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff. Lee DeForest invented the audion tube by inserting a grid between the plate and the filament in a vacuum tube. Howard Armstrong perfected the invention with a series of circuits that made the vacuum tube more sensitive as a radio receiver and suitable as a transmitter. Later he invented FM radio, which greatly reduced static and distortions. David Sarnoff envisioned broadcast radio and provided leadership in its successful commercialization. Later, his company, RCA, also pioneered network radio, television and color television. Modern electronics owe their origins to the electric telegraph, which first brought wires and electricity into communities across the country. Indeed, Thomas Edison and David Sarnoff both began as telegraph operators.

Although the subject of the series was radio, the true subject was Radio Corporation of America or RCA. The book covers the technical developments that made broadcast radio possible and ends with RCA being acquired by General Electric in 1985.

DeForest billed himself as "The Father of Radio," but we learn he was a tinkerer who did not understand how the audion tube worked. In an age when white Anglo-Saxon (Calvinist) Protestants attended Ivy League colleges, and ran most corporations, you would expect Armstrong to win. He was a Presbyterian, educated at Columbia University, under the then leading professor of electrical engineering, Michael Pupin.Read more ›
Comment 24 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsAmericana At It's Best.
By citisen7 on December 28, 2004
Format: Paperback
I didn't just read this book, I've read it three times and will probably read it at least two more times, slowly. It's easily the best recounting of an industrial development that I've ever been through in any medium. The amount of detail about the invention of "radio" is almost overwhelming. The way that the lives of the major figures are professionally interwoven and spiced up with backstabbing, deceit, lying and tragedy is also keeps the reader's eyes glued to the pages. You also begin to realise why the work of honest inventors needs to be protected.
However, the authors distinction between "wireless" and "radio" is pretty thin in my opinion and his use of that to exclude Marconi from the group is a bit ungenerous and just flat-out, technically wrong. The inclusion of Sarnoff is just as wrong. Sarnoff was a classic, ruthless American entrepreneur- not an inventor. He was no doubt a great visionary but he also appropriated for himself events to which he was not connected. Sarnoff more properly belongs in a second volume with Paley and others who raised broadcasting to the level of a major industry. They gave alot to their country, but, not as inventors.
It's an all round great read and I highly recommend it. Tom Lewis did a fantastic job and I've got an opinion thanks to his incredible research. In fact, his book has caused me to do even more reading on the subject.
Finally, I think there's also an accidental, back-door warning in there about the debasement of the American economy. As radio grew, it created hard, marketable skills and spread the wealth into just about every town and household. That's not happening today in an economy that's based on endless consumption, paper debt, cheap unskilled labour, easy credit, no savings and a manufacturing heartland that is anywhere but the USA.
1 Comment 17 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsTurn your radio on . . .
By Bomojaz on April 1, 2005
Format: Paperback
Subtitled "The Men Who Made Radio," this book is concerned with the principal actors developing radio: Marconi, Sarnoff, Armstrong, and De Forrest. Sarnoff ("The General") was the egoist who founded RCA, and Armstrong was the secretive inventor of FM who refused to compromise and lost everything (and committed suicide). The first half of the book is the best; it's all about the inventors and their new inventions and is very interesting. The second half suffers from being mostly about the legal hassling that occurred among the principals. Recommended.
1 Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent History of Radio
By J. McAndrew on June 3, 2004
Format: Paperback
As a radio professional myself, I very much enjoyed reading about the evolution of radio and the marvelous myriad of personalities involved. Since the beginning radio has been filled with colorful and interesting people. It reinforced in me that I picked the right profession to dedicate my life to.
I would recommend this book to any professional broadcaster. If we fail to have an appreciation of history, we fail to grasp the big picture.
Jeffrey McAndrew
WHBL News Anchor and Editor and author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"
Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsRadio Communications unknown History and the men who created it......
By Richard Davis McLeod on October 25, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Lee de Forrest, David Sarnoff and Edwin Howard Armstrong are the three names one will come away with a better knowledge about once having read this book or watched the PBS Documentary taken from this book. Of the three men, Edwin Howard Armstrong was by far the most inventive in the field of Radio Technology, yet he is the least remembered. The reasons are clearly dealt with and explained in this interesting book.

Perhaps Edwin Howard Armstrong's reputation and genius will change as time passes. Lee de Forrest invented the vacuum tube but didn't really know how it worked. David Sarnoff was a marketing genius, knew little about Radio innovation technology but developed RCA Victor from its' already impressive initial beginnings to become the largest communications Company in the World with Sarnoff at the helm. Edwin Howard Armstrong was teaching at Columbia University, literally developing all the major developments as Radio developed and progressed, eventually inventing Frequency Modulation (FM) and making millions of dollars. However he was up against a Radio Giant, and legal battles developed over patents that did nothing more than to literally destroy in many ways the remembrance and talents of all three men.

This book is fascinating, and most appropriately titled, The Empire of the Air, as indeed from Radio's early days, it was to become an Empire of the Air.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat info!

Got this for my dad--he loves all things about the history of radio and technology.

Published 3 months ago by Bevina del Rey
5.0 out of 5 starsA story of the big egos of business and politics running roughshod...

A story of the big egos of business and politics running roughshod over intellect.

Published 3 months ago by DrD9494
5.0 out of 5 starsFascinating Reading.

A fantastic and detailed history of the men who made radio, and the conflicts behind the scenes which brought about financial ruin and tragedy.

Published 19 months ago by SNB
5.0 out of 5 starsESSENTIAL READING FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS & TECHNOLOGY HISTORIANS

If you're looking for a comprehensive, really accurate and very entertaining documentary regarding the history of wireless communications in general, and the AM/FM/TV broadcasting... Read more

Published 20 months ago by George W. Hoeltje
5.0 out of 5 stars... book was described as used and it was as good as new

The book was described as used and it was as good as new. If used, it has been used very very sparingly and there was no obvious wear or other evidence of use. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Krishnan
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat telling of an important but not well known history

Great telling of an important but not well known history. A sad poignant tale of how greed and power destroyed a genius...Armstrong.

Published 21 months ago by Rich13
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful reading. Regret that Lewis gives little credit to ...

More historical info then the movie. Wonderful reading. Regret that Lewis gives little credit to the Edison's patent on The Edison Effect sold to Ambrose Fleming. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Anthony Lasala MD
4.0 out of 5 starsWell written account of the development of radio in the Unites States

While this very well written history is largely devoted to the work of three men, Sarnoff, Armstrong and DeForest it does relate the development of commercial radio in the United... Read more

Published on March 2, 2014 by David G. Wuchinich
5.0 out of 5 starsantique radio buffs need this book.

Being a an antique radio restorer I found this book quite enjoyable. Its well worth the money and very informative....

Published on September 24, 2013 by Challenger
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat story- lots of Real History, and American inventions....... and...

The book is well written and easy to read. It's filled with personal insights and a twisting history if radio. GE, RCA, NBC and many companies long gone. Read more

Published on September 5, 2013 by Ooltewah Bill

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.